Not All Front-Line Workers Wear PPE
With approximately twenty percent of our people across the Group working from home where possible, we wanted to join our colleagues across the Americas in thanking all of our front-line employees for maintaining our plants and keeping our operations running.
Not all of these wear PPE though. Take Bayly Ogden (Salt Lake City), Nadia Boath and Ana Escobar (both in Perth) and Emma Meadows (Brisbane).
These four women are holding the fort in the front-line receptions of our major offices to keep operations ticking along. Every day, they go above and beyond, heading into empty offices to support our critical services on the front line which we could not do without.
Bayly Ogden is the receptionist for the Dyno Nobel Salt Lake City Corporate Headquarters and is remaining in-office taking care of all the front-line duties. Despite being quite lonely in the office, Bayly has continued to be exceptionally positive through this unusual change of pace. She says, “The office is quiet with no foot traffic. Now, I provide more support to employees working from home, but I am more than happy to help! I am meeting more employees through technology and having a chance to connect and assist them.” The COVID-19 situation and physical distancing guidelines have changed her interactions with anyone passing through, and she has also taken on the continual sanitisation of common spaces, such as the lunch room and mail room.”
The tag team of Nadia Boath and Ana Escobar in the Perth office rotating one day per week and Emma Meadows working week about with the site services team in Brisbane, support with sanitising surfaces, ensuring those who are in the office are social distancing and following the bifurcation plan; while managing typical tasks such as the freight, printing, calls, and site support across fifteen DNAP sites in total.
Emma in Brisbane said, “Every day is different. My workload is constantly evolving as we discover new challenges and tasks that cannot be accomplished remotely. These could be small errands like printing or more crucial tasks such as distributing deliveries and mail or arranging couriers to send equipment offsite to staff and customers.
“Before anything else, I contribute to maintaining our safety and security practices by ensuring visitors continue to complete their site safety inductions as well as an additional COVID-19 health assessment. The pandemic has created significant challenges, but it is important to maintain these critical practises, especially on a site as hazardous as Gibson Island.”
Facing the challenge and safety risks of working on their own in empty offices, Nadia said, “When we head into to the office it’s completely empty, so it’s more important now than ever to stay connected and keep up to date with our colleagues. As well as virtual meetings with our teams, Ana and I check in with each other constantly throughout the day when we are in the office to look after each other’s safety and well-being.
“To further mitigate this risk, we also aim to have as much freight as possible organised for Wednesdays. This ensures that each of us on our own in the office as infrequently as possible. Speaking to the freight employees from a safe distance has become a highlight of our weeks!
“I would also like to thank the Perth Office Team and sites who have been really supportive. There have been many occurrences (and will be more) where the office is required outside of the one allocated days, but these will continue to be managed. This is a challenging time for all of us, but it is fantastic to see everyone at DNAP continuing to adapt”
VP Product and Technology and Perth Office Manager David Gribble said, “Nadia and Ana are doing an outstanding job helping to keep our operations going and supporting the office with everyone working from home. They are integral part of our business continuity and we’re all so thankful to have them!”
Shared by the COVID-19 Communications Team
